Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1887-09-08
Reptile and Insect Enemies.

Reptile and Insect Enemies.
If tie Union armies had had no larger
task set before them than TO overcome the
armies of the Southern Confederacy, do
not think the war would have lasted rs
many years as it did
Their labor was very much larger than
that. They fought not only armed enc
mics, but also nature herself, who inter-
posed vast mountain ranges and deep,
swift rivers between them and the Confed-
eracy. They fought-espccally those who
went to the far South-a debilitating eli
mate and length of torrid weather TO
which they were not accustomed. Aud
they contended against myriads of winged
and swarming things. TO which their adver-
saries were used but which to the North
ern boys were dreadful torment.
The man who, in measuring the work
achieved, does not take these extra ordinary
agencies into account, has only summed
up half the truth.
Where shall We begin?
l have recd somewhere that Spaniard
named Muscoro discovered the Delta of
the Mississippi, some centuries ago; and
that, finding clouds of winged insects
with sharp stings in those low-l lying lands,
he gave them name derived from his own,
and called them mosquitoes.
We think they are n pest in our com
paratively cool northern latitudes. Let
the reader follow the track of our armies
contiguous to the Gulf of Mexico, and,
after suffering enough to understand the
situation, let him try to estimate how much
good Union blood was drawn down there
during the wer, in other ways than by the
sword.
The lower part of Louisiana, traversed
with streams, covered with lakes and
frnr ,a,>k 81 a-t.c
erous deposit, bred the things by millions.
In these unhealthy lands thousands of
soldiers not only contended with the enc
my but battled with fever and malaria,
and were tormented with the bites of winged
and creeping things. 1t cost much blood
to open the Mississippi; but for every SOL
dier killed there were three sent to the
hospital, poisoned by the malaria or the
insects.
And flies. could realize something
about the plaques Of Egypt after seeing
them. They we're about as bloodthirsty as IS
the mosquitoes. In the trenches before
Port Hudson We used to destroy them by
the thousand, with powder scattered around
and ignited. They attacked everything
entable; the fresh meat which was sent up
to us was fly-blown and spoiled before it
reached us.
Did the reader ever hear of wood-tick?
Did he ever happen to have one introduced
into his leg?
They are plenty in Dixie. The soldiers
couldn't always sleep at the st. Charles
Hotel; and in sleeping on the ground they
were apt to make too close an acquaintance
with this little villain.
He is red bug who, like some distin-
guished actors, always performs in two
parts. After he has bored his way into
you, you attempt to pull him out. His
after part comes; but the forward part has
entered to stay. He makes himself very
painful, and frequently you will nave to go
to the doctor to get him dug out.
AS q matter of course, snakes abounded.
suppose there were poisonous ones among
them; whether so or not, it was apt to give
soldier creepy sensation to get up in
the morning and shake two or three out of
his blankets.
There were some mysterious casualties
which were enough to put everybody in n
state of apprehension. We were led to ex-
pect danger from every quarter in a land SO
swarming with vegetable and reptile groWths
rs this, our life being continually out of
doors and exposed to every attack On
one of our marches in Western Louisiana
John Cleveland, of my company, had his
face either bitten by an insect or poisoned
by o vine. The doctors We're at a loss to
tell just wnat was the trouble, though they
thought there was some kind of poisoning.
The mans face swelled to twice its natural
size, and he died in a few hours.
AS for the alligators, it must be admitted
that, hideous as they looked, they seemed
to be comparatively harmless. The ne
groes assured us that they always bathed
in the streams infested by them land no
stream in Louisiana was too smallsto have
alligators) without fear, and that the
| gators never touched them. With some
reluctance the soldiers followed the advice
| of the negroes; and when soldier of a
Massachusetts regiment, bathing in Ber-
wick Bay, had the calf of one of his legs
neatly removed by the bite of something, a
panic arose on the subject of bathing. The
negroes explained this mishap by saying
| that it was not the bite of an alligator; it
was that of all alligator gar. The distinc-
ton seemed unimportant to most of us,
and probably brought no consolation to
the victim.
l we'll remember an alarm that was
raised one night in q camp in Western
Louisiana by the firing of neighboring
| picket. The man insisted that somebody
| approached quite near his post; that he
challenged, and the intruder would not
halt; and then he fired. The night was
dark, and the search that was made failed
to disclose anything. The light of NOR
ming revealed the truth. A huge alligator,
twelve feet long, lay dead within q few
| rods of the picket. An examination showed
that <he bullet had entered the eye, which
| is almost the only place where these
mailed creatures can be successfully hit.
1t seemed remarkable that such telling
| shot should have been delivered in the
| dark.
| The occasion could not pass without
| Joke. Some of the soldiers declared that
this alligator had come up from the bayou,
which was some distance off, looking for
Brigadier General.
They are wonderfully bard to kill. On
onr way up the river to Port Hudson, the
steamer passed the lower end of Prophets
Island, upon the long, sandy point of which
| huge alligator lay basking in the hot SUM-
From the bow of the boat dozen rifles
were fred at him. The bullets struck the
water, the sand, and the alligator, some of
them rattling against his coat of mail He
lazily rose, waddled to the water, and
slipped in, apparently unharmed
The stars in their courses fought
against Sisera." President Lincoln was
4 fond of quoting these words from the
Scripture, as suggestive of the silent, un-
noted influences that enter iato the great
| game of war. When such ere counted up.
the great evils and sutferinss of the Union
soldier in overcoming nature herself, and
| Uithstanding the attacks OF the reptiles and
the inse It's of the South, ought not to be
overlooked.
History deals SO little with these things
that the world will never know the extent
oftne evils and sutferings of the American
soldier.
1 II tells about great campaigns md large
movements; it tells how many were killed
and wounded in a battle; but you look in
vain for some account of the dreadful suf-